Dan Bruno

@danbruno.net

game designer

sometimes youtube shows me a pinball-themed anti-vaping psa aimed at teens and even if it reached the intended audience i have to wonder about the efficacy

I was still awake last night when DST ended, so I did the manual updates to e.g. the oven and microwave clocks within like ten minutes Unfortunately, just now I started making dinner too early because I wasn't looking at any clocks, but judged it was about time because of what the sky looked like

If I have any trick-or-treaters this year, they’re getting tricks. They’ll be good tricks though, like how to do the backwards long jump in Mario 64

I think it's time I tap on the Ocarina remake icon just in case it launches early, as I've done with every game I've ever preordered for some reason

Thanks to the magic of save states I finished Sonic Spinball, a game I had as a kid but was never able to beat. (There wasn't a lot going on during the second half of that WS game...) It's not that good!

On a whim I booted up Tears of the Kingdom tonight to finish cleaning up all of the caves, using that phone app with the map. I was impressed that I had found all but six of them without a guide! I was less impressed that one of the ones I had missed was...in Kakariko Village

I know the battle against Christmas season expansion has already ceded a lot of ground (who waits until Thanksgiving anymore?) but whenever I see a store put out the displays before Halloween, as I did today, it still feels wrong

Today I saw a guy walking his dog with the leash in one hand and his phone in the other while also wearing a baby on his chest. He had a little baggie of dog shit too, which he somehow held between a couple of fingers at a distance from all three. Applause-worthy pedestrian

based on the subtitles "scribdoon" appears to mean "write it down," which seems like the kind of thing that guy who made shit up on scots wikipedia would've come up with

I imagine it's probably pretty hard to do barks for Fire Emblem characters, especially the more one-dimensional ones, but it always seems like the writers are having the time of their fucking lives

During Shenmue's development, there was probably a meeting where they decided not to let Ryo eat the potato chips or the chocolate bars (even though he can drink the sodas) to mitigate scope

if you're planning to play fortune's weave and you want to do all four part one paths and you're looking for a recommended order, might i suggest: cai, leda, dietrich, theodora good escalation of complexity and lore stuff imo

Yesterday my phone had a lock screen message telling me an OS update was available. Later in the day, a notification banner said the new update would install overnight. When I first looked at my phone today, a dialog box told me the OS didn't update. Then, just now, I got a lock screen message…

Experimental post: The Duality of Whacka In the Switch version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Whacka can finally be fought, and has a suspiciously specific 108 HP. The game both offers a ridiculously simplistic explanation for this as well as a complex one steeped in Dharmic symbolism.

In Paper Mario, the original version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Super Paper Mario, Whacka was just a harmless whack-a-mole creature that could be abused to get Whacka Bumps, extremely valuable healing items. After being hit enough times, the Whacka goes extinct, teaching the players the consequences of their actions. However, in the Switch version of Paper Mario: TTYD, he instead moves to the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials and becomes an optional superboss with 108 HP.
He is fought at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials and has to be hit 8 times in order for the fight to activate.
but also
The number 108 is considered sacred by the Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Whacka symbolizes karma for killing him in past games
ring the bell 108 times, per Japanese tradition? The ringing of the bell represents the 108 bonno-defilements of man..
Buddhism holds the view that there are precisely 108 temptations on the path to Nirvana.
Therefore, in order to reach Nirvana, every Buddhist must resist 108 earthly temptations.
With a combination of any of the elements of the above four factors, there are 108 ways with which the karmas can be attracted to the soul.
the earthly temptation to get those Whacka Bumps
There are 108 qualities of praiseworthy souls
Some people think that the human spirit travels through 108 stages, while others believe that enlightenment is attainable with just 108 breaths each day while in Intense meditation,
108 beads to awaken your inner light
Meditators count mantra repetitions with mala beads of 108, (100 counted for self, 8 for mistakes and for those who have not the opportunity to meditate in mantra)
108 breaths to return to your truth
108 mantras to dissolve ego into dever
108 steps from the self to the soul
The Sacred Meaning of 108 Temple Steps
the journey to Whacka is a journey of enlightenment